The Social Functionality of Humor in Group-Based Research

Abstract

Citizens’ juries provide deliberative fora within which members of the public can debate complex policy issues. In this article, we reflect on our experience of undertaking three citizens’ juries addressing health inequalities, to explore the positive and facilitative role that humor can play within group-based research focusing on sensitive health policy issues. We demonstrate how both participants and researchers engaged in the production of humor in ways which troubled prevailing power dynamics and facilitated positive relationships. We conclude by recommending that researchers, particularly health policy researchers and those pursuing the kind of lengthy group-based fora associated with deliberative research, consider the positive role humor can play when engaged reflexively. In so doing, we make a major contribution to extant literature on both deliberative fora (which is yet to consider humor’s facilitative capacities) and the role of humor in qualitative (health) research (which rarely explores researcher complicity in humor production).

“Everything Is Perfect, and We Have No Problems”: Detecting and Limiting Social Desirability Bias in Qualitative Research

“…Vallano and Compo (2011), studying the accuracy of eye-witness accounts, found that verbal rapport building through interviewer self-disclosure and expressing interest in the respondent improved recall accuracy of past events and acted as a buffer against inaccurate reporting. Humor is another strategy that can help to alleviate power differentials and facilitate rapport building in group-based research (Hewer et al, 2019). Matching by sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., gender, ethnicity, and age) is a common strategy to enhance relations and foster a mutual sense of understanding and empathy.…”

Healthy Smile, Happy Child: partnering with Manitoba First Nations and Metis communities for better early childhood oral health

“…The session was not one-sided with researchers asking questions and participants merely responding. The ambience was kept friendly, conversational, using humour and storytelling, which helps douse tensions and research-related anxiety (Hewer et al, 2019). The facilitator was also willing to reframe and clarify questions, so that participants clearly understood and would respond to what was being asked.…”

Laughter and humour for personal development: A systematic scoping review of the evidence

“…Social humour was found to serve valuable 'social, developmental, and emotional wellbeing functions' in a systematic review of people with intellectual disabilities and their carers (k = 26, n = 1,351) [38]. An ethnographic study (n = 57) concluded humour has important social functions as a social lubricant, a coping mechanism, and a way to negotiate power [95].…”